Radiator Problems

FastTRX · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:29 am

Well after doin' a bit of wheelin' saturday night I had a mysterious leak of a red liquid on the left side of the KJ...mostly under the wheel well and under the front bumper. Not alot of liquid but noticable small puddles after sitting...took it in today to get checked upon...dad and me thought it was power-steering fluid. Nope...ended up being a crack in the radiator. Getting a new radiator put in tomarrow...but wondering if anyone else has had these problems. Can the crack be caused from wheeling...flex..??? I know nothing has been rammed up from under or through the front to cause this and I believe the service guy told my dad that it seemed like the crack was previously attempted to be patched...

? My KJ was purchased used but hadn't had these problems until recently. Couldn't have been a big crack...but def. needed replacement. Anybody replace a radiator?

FLJeep · **Joined:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:27 am **Posts:** 84

I did right after i drove it off the lot. I have heard the libby's are prone to cracks in the left side of the rad. Mine was in the upper driverside corner. It was hard to find cuz it would drip into the plastics and run along the body. You need to keep an eye on your battery terminals too. They will corride quick

2006KJSPORT4x4 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:44 am

what FLJeep said...it's been posted elsewhere that the top left side of the radiator (from the driver's seat) has caused leaks and eventually corroded the negative terminal for your battery, i think tjkj mentioned somewhere around the board...

FastTRX · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:35 pm

We checked everything...battery looked good. It was def. a small crack...there wasn't too much coolant everywhere...just a little under the KJ. I'm wondering what causes this?

All in all...owned my KJ for a little over a month now...freaking awesome!!! Very happy w/ it!

phxtoad · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:00 pm

Mine was shot at about 65,000 miles. Same crack in the same locations as described. A friend also had the same thing happen to him.

TL

streetKJ · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:58 pm

Ditto here. My radiator was replaced around 57k.

FastTRX · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:01 pm

Just logged 80K...had around 78,500 when I bought it. Must be a weak point on the older KJs. I haven't got the estimate yet...whats a stock radiator cost?

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Very common problem in the upper corner on the driver's side. Air going under the hood can carry coolant back onto your negative terminal and make it corrode very quickly. I had my mechanic replace mine with a 3 core aluminum radiator at about 35k after patching it twice with no luck.

1stJeepKJ · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:53 pm

Yep very same spot on mine. top drivers side corner edge. around 60K miles. Mine was so small it didn't leak onto the ground but it sprayed inside and my battery terminals and connectors got toasted with corrosion.

FLJeep · **Joined:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:27 am **Posts:** 84

Wow. So it seems its happening most of the time in the higher millage kj's. Why hasnt there been a recall?

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:10 pm

KY Liberty wrote:

Very common problem in the upper corner on the driver's side. Air going under the hood can carry coolant back onto your negative terminal and make it corrode very quickly. I had my mechanic replace mine with a 3 core aluminum radiator at about 35k after patching it twice with no luck.

What brand of rad did you get? Was it direct fit or did you have to mod some stuff?

FastTRX · **Posted:** Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:15 pm

To go along w/ purchases of radiators....The stock KJ radiator is plastic??!! This is what my mom told me after talking to the service guy. Hmm...hoping it won't be too much $$ after all!!

streetKJ · **Posted:** Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:33 am

FastTRX wrote:

To go along w/ purchases of radiators....The stock KJ radiator is plastic??!! This is what my mom told me after talking to the service guy. Hmm...hoping it won't be too much $$ after all!!

I believe the edge of the radiator is plastic, where most of the leaks originate. They really need a better design.

itsajeepthing · **Posted:** Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:59 am

Hmmm this is interesting. I dont have any leakage under my KJ so far, but have been puzzled as to why the neg. post on my battery has sooo much corrosion junk builtup on it! Time for a pressure test?

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:41 am

What radiators have you guys gone with? Any certain brand or have you gone back to the stock plastic caps radiator? What’s the price for a stock radiator from DC? I haven’t had any problems with the radiator but I did with the negative battery post a few months back.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Jeepjeepster wrote:

KY Liberty wrote:

Very common problem in the upper corner on the driver's side. Air going under the hood can carry coolant back onto your negative terminal and make it corrode very quickly. I had my mechanic replace mine with a 3 core aluminum radiator at about 35k after patching it twice with no luck.

What brand of rad did you get? Was it direct fit or did you have to mod some stuff?

I'm not sure what brand it was. It was a direct fit, but it wasn't very fun to install according to my mechanic. I'll see if he knows. It's been in there for a year and a half, so I don't know if he'll still have the model number.

FLJeep · **Joined:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:27 am **Posts:** 84

I no the new libby rads arent the same design BUT they still have that plastic at the top.

FastTRX · **Posted:** Thu Nov 09, 2006 1:19 am

Well my new radiator is installed and it put a big hole in the pocket...

Now I have another problem...the sensor for the windshield wiper fluid recently keeps dinging on...added some tonite after picking it up from the shop...look down and see it running down the front bumper...WTF? Check the little hole in the right side front wheel well...sure enough the resevoir that holds the washer fluid was broke (part of the valve thing on the bottom) so it was all running out. I dont know whether to blame the dealer or if it was just something that wore. It doesn't seem like they would have to take it out/move it to install the radiator but I could be wrong. Looks like I'll need the whole resevoir...UGH! Should be easy to install by myself seeing I could get to it from under the wheel well...just wondering what its guna cost and hoping that I wont have to do too much to get the new one in there.

Man...when the liberty has problems...its one after another!! I still love this thing though!

FLJeep · **Joined:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:27 am **Posts:** 84

TAKE IT BACK AND GET UGLY UNTIL THEY FIX IT!

That is a first, and i could see where someone would pop that if they aren't careful. how much did it cost you?

FastTRX · **Posted:** Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:51 am

The whole job cost me $360...not cool!

I'm looking into seeing if I can get it fixed...because I imagine it wont be cheap for the parts.

Radiator Problems

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